More than Thriller or Sledgehammer, this is the 80s vid to which I keep returning. Not because it’s good. Or beautiful. Heavens no. It makes me sad to report that this troupe of costumed hipsters and rhythmless dancers are well past 50. As kids they were English. They’re British now. They’d never heard of Starbuck’s then. They stop off for a tall soy vanilla latte every day now and wear it around their midsections. When videographers were casting this vid, did the ad read, “Bad dancers wanted. Must be early 20s. Unspectacular looks and enormous eyeglasses a plus?” It must have, because it’s the relative plainness, the bucktoothed Luxemborgian looks of these seaside sad sacks which mark the effort as a bona fide 80s time piece. Madonna may have brought glamour back in the 80s, but she was the only one to pull it off. The rest of us, danced (or failed to dance) around in thriftstore copycrap. What happened to the kids in this video? Does anyone recognize any of them? Did they go on to fame and fortune? Did they, like us, live happily ever after? What’s Morrissey been up to lately?
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